A Stamp. Traditional Norwegian outdoor hot tub. Perfect weather for it too...
The snap decision to put forth Piotr and myself as the 2 carpenters resulted in tension in the group as Tomek and Andrzej felt this was completely undemocratic that we just spoke up without consultation to the group. We felt pressured to have a quick decision as the boat was leaving almost immediately, and knowing about my past job experience, and also Peter, it seem logical to assume that we were the most qualified, hence what occurred. It never felt like a big deal at that moment. We were once carpenters in the past, so here we are again, saying so...
The resulting snarkyness and sulking from Tomek was a problem for me. It’s one thing to have a grievance and express it, but to then withdraw and become impossible to talk and reason with is really not acceptable in a small group, and under these circumstances. So I told him he’s acting like a child (well, more along the lines of "a fucking baby"), and there can’t be any more of that on this trip. I’ll admit that we’re stressed because we haven’t started working yet and officially making money. Tomek’s a good guy, but also a proud guy, so I don’t think he took that well at all. And because we had to split and form 2 crews right after this tension, we haven’t had time to smooth it over. I hope he doesn’t harbour resentment. I don’t regret what was said, but I need to remember that he’s 5 years younger than me, and in this time from his age to mine, I learned alot about the value of not being volatile.
Per Jørgen Haugan. Doesn't like cameras. Lived in Cape Breton. Thinks all Canadians are like Cape Bretoners. God help us.
Anyway, we split. At that time, a great idea as the tense situation was something I didn’t want to deal with. When people are behaving overly immature and/or petty, I get fed up. Piotr and I got to hang out on the island and chat for a long time. He’s really quite the conversationalist - a lot to say whilst revealing very little about his true, deep self. A true diplomat. Sophisticated. Almost British you’d think, accent included. Not a typical Pole methinks, but what do I know, I only know 7 Polish people.
After a while on the island, and a wonderful bowl of ‘Fiskesuppe’ (fish soup), we went with Per Jørgen and his wife, kid, and neice (she would refer to me as 'Engelskman') by large ship (2 x 240 hp engines) to his summer home where we were going to do the work on his windows. The trip there was incredible on the rough sea, with overcast skies, misty mountains, and just majestic (or any other pretentious, bourgeois adjective) landscapes.
Per Jørgen's boat.
The bay of Per Jørgen's summer home.
So, Per Jørgen has one of the coolest summer homes I’ve seen! He’s spent years and years as a scuba diver, researching in books and old newspapers, asking fishermen, etc about old naval wrecks so he could go explore them. A treasure hunter of sorts, mixed in with the spirit of a modern ‘sea archaeologist’. It shows when you see his summer home. I can’t even explain the wonders we saw; old communication levers from a ship’s bridge to its engine room, old compasses, oldskool ‘speedometers’ where you throw a rope with a propeller into the water and it counts the revolutions as you count the time then you calculate your speed. He also had sextants, old rope guns, portholes, etc that you really can’t imagine how he managed to get all the stuff, but he did. Norway in fact is a great country for this sort of thing because of all the ships that sunk or crashed in World War II. (Usually German ships with no idea of Norwegian waters, or Russian convoy ships when Germans were in control of the area.)
Ahoy!
Signal to the engine room. Note the Japanese manufacturing, and the spelling FUUL.
This is actually a compass, with a small lantern at the top right, which illuminates a chamber on the inside where the compass resides. It's totally sealed, so that the light wouldn't escape, potentially giving away a ship that otherwise didn't want to be seen at night.
Anyway, our visit was cut short (not before a glass of Kilkenny, a nice sleep, and a hot shower) because we got a call from that guy Rolf saying he only had work for 2 people initially, but now he re-evaluated his needs and has work for 4, starting the following day, and he still assumed we were coming, so he rented all the equipment and now he was stressing out that we might not be there. So Piotr and I decided we should get back to Bodø (we were about 1.5 hours from there now) so to take the job with the other guys and to maintain a reputation which is "we are good to our word". Per Jørgen said not to worry about him; he only offered us the work in case we didn’t have any, so to help us out. He thought we were good guys, and (as the month went on) we thought him to be a very great guy.
The next day however is one I hope I never have to repeat for the next month...
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